According to the Product Red website, "(RED) has delivered a total of $11,303,926 to the Global Fund thus far. Based on early conservative estimates, we believe that when holiday sales have been totaled, (RED) will have generated another $10 million for the Fund."

Hardly surprising, then, that this announcement has received zero media coverage (U2 earn more in a month).

Given that a total of US$ 9.8 billion has been pledged and/or contributed through 2008 to the Global Fund (though only US$ 3.3 billion from this has actually been disbursed to date), Red's "contribution" represents approximately 0.001%-0.002% of the total pledged funds to date.

Bono's heavy involvement in private equity companies (ie- one of the most pernicious mutations of capitalism to date) tells you everything you could ever need to know about his true motivations and the sickening hypocrisy that marks his every "charitable" move.

just caught a random glimpse on what looked like live satellite feed on libyan tv of sir bob getting bottled off stage in benghazi, it looked like the festival of youth was turning into a riot, chairs were thrown, geldof begging for the translator before being escorted off stage, cut to stock footage of much happier crowds singing ??? ??????!?

fuck knows - following the bloodstained blair bandwagon i suppose - i can't see any sign of it on google or on the libya news (obv ) - the meeting ملتقى الثاني شباب الليبي did take place yesterday as qadafi's bald son did a looong speech which was reported, al-jaz had cameras there so maybe they will come up with summat....

A couple of days after Seif al-Islam's speech and Sir Bob Geldof's attempted gig, an eyewitness account, published in the dissident news website Libya Al-Mustaqbal, stated that around 400 young men, blindfolded and handcuffed, were seen stepping off an airplane in Tripoli International Airport. The men were packed into prison trucks and driven away. The plane had come from Benghazi.

international meeja finally catches up with dissensus, but still noone's saying wtf he was doing there

Internationally renowned British architect Norman Foster was today announced as the visionary behind Ireland’s first skyscraper – the U2 Tower.

The €200m scheme, which will soar 120 metres over Dublin’s docklands, will house the iconic rock band’s egg-shaped recording studio at its peak.

It was commissioned by Geranger Ltd, a consortium including property developers Ballymore and U2 members Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jnr and Adam Clayton.

Mr Foster, whose notable projects include the Gherkin in London and the Millau Viaduct in France, was chosen by Dublin’s Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) as the project‘s design winner.

Paul Maloney, DDDA Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to have achieved our ambition of realising an inspirational landmark design, while at the same time maximising public usage and access.

“This design will be a very special building for Docklands and Dublin City while integrating the Britain Quay and U2 Tower buildings in a distinct and coherent fashion on the waterfront,” he said.

As well as the band’s recording studio, the inspirational building will include a public viewing platform at 100 metres, a public amenity area at the base, hotel, retail and residential accommodation including 20% social and affordable housing.

“It will also provide visitors the opportunity to experience spectacular views across Dublin city and bay, and for the community offers significant social and affordable housing potential,” Mr Maloney said.

An original U2 Tower plan – a twisting structure designed by a Dublin-based architectural firm – was to be built at a height of just 60 metres.

But following a recent planning amendment for the area, the tower was redesigned and increased to 120 metres in height with an adjoining site added.

The announcement of preferred bidder status for Geranger Ltd followed a EU tendering process where submissions from four short-listed consortia were considered.

Mr Foster is an internationally acclaimed architect, having designed some of the world‘s most iconic structures.

These include the Millau Viaduct in France – the tallest vehicular bridge in the world – the Bilbao Metro and New York‘s Hearst Tower.

The U2 Tower will be located in the Grand Canal Dock area, where DDDA is working with some of the world’s leading architects on projects such as the Studio Libeskind-designed Grand Canal Theatre, the Manuel Aires Mateus designed hotel, and the recently opened Martha Schwartz designed Grand Canal Square.

Work on the landmark project is due to begin next year with a completion date expected by 2011.

That egg is quite strange. The tower as a whole is repulsive isn't it? Even for Foster this is a shallow slice of aesthetically ugly glass/steel "futurist" nonsense. I find it fairly difficult to believe this glitzy monstrosity actually got planning permission. And the arrogance of them at the top! Oh- it contains "affordable housing". As a literalisation of Bono's ego and its relation to the rest of the world its actually quite hilarious...

That egg is quite strange. The tower as a whole is repulsive isn't it? Even for Foster this is a shallow slice of aesthetically ugly glass/steel "futurist" nonsense. I find it fairly difficult to believe this glitzy monstrosity actually got planning permission. And the arrogance of them at the top! Oh- it contains "affordable housing". As a literalisation of Bono's ego and its relation to the rest of the world its actually quite hilarious...

Oh, it is going to be followed by numerous other much worse Dubai-style fantasy horrors. After the Dublin Spike/Spire [at 145 metres] was erected some years ago, it unwittingly set the benchmark for future skyline-property projects, much like, many years ago, the Washington Monument set the (very low in that instance) limit for Washington's skyline, which is why Washington still has no skyscrapers. As for 'planning permission', ha ha!!: in Ireland certain party-political property developers totally control the political - and planning - apparatus [as public scrutiny of the prime minister/Taoiseach Bertie Aherne is currently revealing]: they're only building skyscrapers now ironically because of the collapse of the property market over the past year - they now have to build way higher in order to recoup their huge speculative investment at high prices in land and sites during the height of the property boom (of course there are also the libidinal economy factors too: class oneupmanship, ego-mania, etc). Las Vegas pastiche 'architecture.'

The 'affordable housing' PR is of course a myth: those who would genuinely qualify couldn't possibly afford such housing/apartment accommodation. They get to own half of the flat, purchased at full market skyhigh prices and mortgage funded, while the other half is owned by the local council, so ending up paying both a full mortgage AND a full rent. It's just a bad joke.